Continuity
by iiSarahJaxii
Summary: There are always a lot of trials and tribulations in a new relationship, but neither of them expected that having to learn how to fall into one would be so hard. Sequel to the FanFic "Familiarity". Ninten x Claus with a side of Ness x Lucas and a touch of Jeff x Tony.


**Publisher's note:**

**Absolutely not necessary to read "Familiarity" to get this one but it's just something nice to continue off of and gives it a bit of a backstory.**

**Once again, characters are not exactly like their fanon/canon personalities so please read with an open-mind!**

**Enjoy another Ninten x Claus with a dash of Ness x Lucas and super tiny dash of Jeff x Tony! **

**Thank you!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Earthbound.**

* * *

They've been dating for just over three weeks when Ninten realises that he and Claus are actually really shitty at being a couple.

He's over at Claus' house, and Ness and Lucas are in the kitchen with them. (Ninten thinks they're cooking, he isn't really sure, he stopped paying attention when Ness started grabbing at Lucas' sides while Lucas protested through his giggles.) He and Claus share a couple classes, and they both have their math notes spread across the counter, collectively sharing them. (Claus says that Ninten is just using his notes because he gets distracted halfway through math class and starts doodling, which is so _not true_, just because Claus is a genius doesn't mean that he should be _mean_.)

Claus is working calmly, and Ninten is mostly leaving him to it, having already bypassed the limit of patience that Claus is willing to answer questions for. He's trying to focus, and none of his answers match the answer sheet, and he doesn't understand what else he needs to do, make a virginal sacrifice? He's getting frustrated, but he can't stop now, more out of the fact that Claus will make fun of him if he takes a break than any actual will to persevere. (Why does he ever study at Claus' house, really, he should know better by now.)

"Would you quit that," Claus snaps, and Ninten turns and raises his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry dear, what was that?" He asks.

Claus glowers. "Quit chewing on your lip like that, you're going to knaw your mouth off."

"Okay, I didn't even know I was doing it, and I don't get the problem since it's not _your_ mouth-"

"I can hear you doing it, it's distracting-"

They both stop when Ness suddenly starts laughing.

Claus narrows his eyes at him. "What? It's annoying as hell. Excuse me for having pet peeves."

Ness only laughs harder, and Ninten exchanges a raised eyebrow with Claus.

"It's not a pet peeve," Ness says. "It's sexual tension."

Claus stares Ness down, hard, until Ness shifts uncomfortably and looks away.

"You're right," Ninten chirps, "I am so physically attractive that I sexually frustrate Claus all the time just by him looking at me, I'm so sorry for my blindingly good looks."

Claus rolls his eyes so hard Ninten's vaguely surprised that his entire head doesn't move.

"Look, if we're bothering you, you can always go away? The two of us are actually trying to _work_." Claus says, vaguely snippy.

"Evidently," Ness says, and Lucas elbows him in the side. Ness pouts heavily at his boyfriend before turning back around again. "Whatever, we have plans already. We'll go soon, and be out of your hair." He sneers at them, and Ninten sneers back, making a rude gesture in return that Ness pulls a face at.

"Mom and Dad know?" Claus says directly to Lucas, ever the older brother, and Lucas nods. "You've had these plans for a while?"

"Yeah," Ness says, leaning on the counter next to Lucas, who hops up onto the counter. Claus makes a face at his brother, and Lucas sticks his tongue out at him. "Lucas and I are going bowling with Jeff and Tony -"

"Tony?" Claus asks, his focus shifting off of Lucas. "You mean the uber gay?"

Ness frowns. "Okay one, we're boys and we're all dating each other, which I'm pretty sure makes you gay too, and two, I'm pretty sure he's straight."

Claus snorts and then holds up a finger, "Okay _one_," he says, making his voice a mocking whine on the word, "we are not all dating each other, that implies that all four of us are in a polyamorous relationship and I wouldn't fuck you with a shovel, burger town; two, that kid is about as straight as a fucking circle."

Lucas furrows his brow, speaking before Ness, which is probably a good thing considering how offended he looks, "How so?"

"Whenever the kid even looks at Jeff you can read the 'Fuck Me' in his eyes."

"Well _some_ people actually show affection to the people they like."

Claus frowns. "Just because I'm not overly touchy doesn't mean I'm not _affectionate_," he says putting an overly sarcastic lilt to the last word. "I'm fine at -"

"Sure," Lucas says, cutting him off in an uncharacteristic moment of boldness. Ninten nearly laughs at the affronted look on Claus' face and the challenging one on Lucas'. "But have you done anything with Ninten that's different from when you were just friends? I mean, I know you're going to prom, but that isn't for another few weeks, and have you done anything else? Have you kissed, or even gone on a date?"

Ninten's urge for laughter instantly disappears, and he falls silent. He doesn't look at Claus, but he can feel him sitting next to him and still with tension, his lack of response falling heavy on the air.

"Oh my god, actually?" Ness says, peering at Ninten. Ninten purses his lips, and that seems to answer Ness' question. "You two actually _are_ sexually frustrated then, good job. Also shitty at dating."

"Right, so you and Lucas are totally perfect at it? Please, enlighten me as to how things should go." Ninten lilts back.

"Please do not talk about whatever gross things you do with my brother in front of me, thank you very much." Claus cuts in.

"C'mon, Clausy, the thought of your brother and Ness doesn't get you all hot?"

"I'm scarred for life from that sentence."

Ness rolls his eyes, and grabs Lucas' hand to help him to his feet. "Okay, great, you two have fun. We're going to go now."

"Have fun on your double date!" Ninten says cheerily, and Claus backs him up by fluttering his eyelashes at the two of them.

"You're both horrible people, and totally suited for each other," Ness replies, and Lucas waves goodbye at the both of them before Ness tugs him out of the kitchen.

Claus sighs deeply and stretches his arms above his head, and Ninten glances surreptitiously at the strip of stomach that's exposed, before looking more obviously because he remembers that, oh yeah, he can do that now. "Finally, a chance for a quiet." He says, then drops his arms and glances at Ninten. "Oh, no wait, scratch that."

Ninten swats at him with the back of his hand. "I've been quiet."

"Yeah, but that's because you weren't bored for quite long enough yet," Claus says, once again demonstrating that he knows Ninten all too well and only seems to use it for pointing out his negative traits.

"But Clausy, math is hard," He whines, and Claus rolls his eyes. "I mean it, can't we take a break? Just a little one?"

"You can; I'm going to finish this problem." Claus says, picking up his pencil and bracing his forearms on the countertop. Ninten sulks, but Claus ignores him because he's the worst boyfriend ever.

"Like you don't already know all of it," Ninten mutters darkly, folding his arms on the counter and dropping his head onto them. "We could be doing something fun, but instead we're studying."

That second line gets a reaction, but not the one he expects, Claus going stiff beside him. He lifts his head and turns to face his boyfriend, studying the tense line of his shoulders and the tight grip he's keeping on the pencil. "Claus?"

Claus pauses for a moment, then puts the pencil down with a sigh, turning towards Ninten and nudging his legs apart so he slip his knee in beside Ninten's. "Does it bother you?"

Ninten raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Does it bother you that we don't go out? That I haven't taken you out on a date?"

"Whoa there, who says you're _taking_ me out on a date, I'm pretty sure-"

"Jesus Christ, I mean does it bother you that we haven't gone on a date. Does that wording work for you? Have I offended your tiny ego?"

Ninten narrows his eyes at him. "Wow, sweetheart, I'm so deeply flattered by your compliments."

"Ninten," Claus says heavily, leaning forward to place a hand on his knee, "I mean it."

Ninten swallows, staring at Claus, his dark teal eyes and the serious line of his brows. "I -" he says, then stalls, and Claus seems to tense up a bit. "It doesn't really bother me, but I'd like it. I'd like to. I want to go out on a date with you."

Claus bites his lower lip, seeming to think over this, and yeah, Ninten can acknowledge how that could be a distracting habit. Or at least, it is on Claus, but Ninten knows that his mouth doesn't look like Claus' does. There obviously has to be some degree of reciprocated attraction though, considering they're, you know, dating. Which is still really weird to think of, actually. Claus is his boyfriend. Boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend.

"Okay," Claus says, and Ninten realises he had completely spaced out for a few moments in there. He hopes he didn't actually miss Claus saying anything. "Then... we'll go out."

"That was the most romantic way I've ever been asked out, thank you Claus." Ninten says.

"Oh heart of my heart, light of my life, will you fill the part of my existence that is missing and complete me by going out on a date?" Claus says in a perfectly dead monotone, staring Ninten down with a straight expression.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Ninten replies cheerily, and Claus glowers. Ninten snorts, and reaches for his hand. "Yes Claus, we can go on a date. I'll let you pick the first one, and then we swap who picks date night ideas, okay?"

"I feel like I need to clear your ideas first, because I seriously don't trust your tastes," Claus says, but he's rubbing his thumb over Ninten's knee, so.

"I am putting my trust in you for this one, can't you return that?" He replies, fake offense in his voice, and Claus is obviously a heartless human being with no sense of sympathy or care for others, because he just rolls his eyes.

"No, because then every date night you pick will be a different Marvel super hero movie where we eat popcorn mixed with crushed oreos," Claus says, and Ninten doesn't get his objection, that sounds like the _perfect_ date night.

"Fine, then if you want to be coupley we can just get back at Ness and Lucas by making out on the counter," He says, and Claus jerks back so sharply that Ninten jumps. He watches Claus turn away, back to his math notes, and he touches his arm hesitantly. "Um, that was a joke? I don't think either of us are ready to go there yet."

Claus makes an agreeing sort of hum, but that doesn't soothe Ninten, since he's still not looking at him. He rubs his hand up and down Claus' arm a couple times, and then curls it over his shoulder to turn Claus towards him. To his surprise, Claus isn't tense out of agitation, but the uncommon appearance of embarrassment, evident by the slight pink dusting his cheekbones. Ninten can't keep the smile from spreading across his face when he sees it, and _then_ Claus turns agitated.

"What? I'm not expecting you to just _say_ things like that." He grumps, and Ninten starts to laugh at him, and only briefly registers that Claus looks even more annoyed before he's getting pushed off his stool.

"If you make kissy faces while we're out, I'm abandoning you on the side of the road," Claus says, and then turns back to their math notes. Ninten gets up, a little sore and still amused, to sit next to him.

He does get bored about ten minutes later, whining and cajoling Claus into watching a movie with him, and Claus eventually gives in because his ability to be stubborn doesn't overpower Ninten's ability to be completely obnoxious.

* * *

Ninten's leaning next to his locker, listening to Ness go on about his great bowling throw, which Ninten greatly suspects he is over embellishing, when Lucas comes up and tucks himself against his boyfriend's side.

"Hey," Ness says, grin stretching his face, and slips an arm over Lucas' shoulders. Lucas smiles up at him, shy but pleased.

"Normally I would ask if I should go, but I'm going to remind you that you're in a public place and that I have as much right to be here as you, especially considering my locker is here." Ninten points out.

Ness rolls his eyes. "We've got our arms around each other, I think that's pretty much G-rated. Are you bothered because of the immense sexual tension between you and your own boyfriend, or the fact that you're apparently a prude since it's taken you this long for absolutely nothing to happen?"

Ninten glares at him, genuinely miffed about his words for once, instead of the faked offense he usually exaggerates. Lucas tilts his head up and murmurs something into Ness' ear, and Ninten can see him rubbing his thumb in soothing circles that bunch up Ness' shirt slightly with each upward motion. Ness relaxes noticeably, and looks at Ninten apologetically. "Sorry."

Ninten shrugs, still vaguely annoyed, but knowing that most of it is his own fault and his inability to make his own relationship work, and has little to do with Ness at all. His best friend still looks largely guilty though, so Ninten pushes a huff of air out of his nose and steals Ness' cap, stacking it on top of his own. "It's okay, even if your relationship is closer at the moment; I am vastly more intelligent and good looking."

"You certainly look the part," Lucas adds with a smile, focused on where Ninten has the hats stacked but looking like he doesn't want to laugh out of politeness.

Ness obviously doesn't share the opinion, as he just looks vastly exasperated. "You idiot, give me my hat. You look like a moron; I don't know why Claus is dating you."

Ninten shrugs. "Probably because when we get around to having sex it is going to be absolutely ballin' and -"

"Yeah, okay, you're done," Ness says, stealing his hat back and placing it on his head. Lucas is slowly turning a deep crimson, and Ness turns to him. "I am so sorry about him; I don't know why I ever made friends with him."

Ninten snorts. "I'd still be around, if I still ended up dating Claus and you were with Lucas."

Ness ignores him, and Lucas does too, though Ninten suspects that's largely out of too much embarrassment to be able to meet Ninten's eye. Ness reaches forward and brushes some of Lucas' hair off his forehead. "I'll see you later?" He murmurs, and the way he's focused on his boyfriend makes Ninten feel like he's been forgotten, but he doesn't mind so much.

"Yeah," Lucas replies, in the same quiet tone that makes the conversation shared between the two of them, a glimmer of warmth running through the words. Ness smiles a little, soft and unlike his usual grin, and then leans forward to peck Lucas on the cheek. Lucas' mouth curves up a little, and then he slips away into the crowd of students.

Ness turns to Ninten, looking affronted. "Can you please not say those sort of things around my boyfriend?"

"Yeah, sure," Ninten says, a little absentminded, and Ness blinks at him in surprise before turning back to his locker. Ninten knows it's out of character, will possibly tease Lucas about the same thing later, but right now he's not as focused on that so much as he is the way Ness kissed Lucas goodbye so easily. There was no hesitation, no reluctance over who else was around or their own feelings, and Ninten tries to feel happy for his friends and the way he can see them growing into each other, but he can't completely ignore the low burn of jealousy in his stomach.

* * *

The next day, Claus finds Ninten at his locker, casually leaning his shoulder against the bank of them within Ninten's line of sight. His hair is a little bit messy, and he has one of his thumbs hooked through the belt loop in his jeans, pushing up the bottom of his shirt enough to show a slip of skin and the waistband of his jeans, riding just above where the jut of his hipbone is.

"Hey," Claus says, and Ninten tries to recall his ability to create legible speech.

"Hey," Ninten replies, and surveys his locker for space before just shoving his binder into the mess. Claus rolls his eyes, but he knows by now that getting Ninten to clean his locker is a lost cause. "What's up?"

"I thought we could go out today," Claus says.

Ninten turns to him and raises his eyebrows. "You're going to have to be more specific than that. Is going out like, like going outside? Are we going to the parking lot? Are we going to Antarctica?"

The look Claus gives him is so unamused that Ninten thinks Claus probably wishes he _was_ in Antarctica at that moment. "That wasn't what I meant, so much,"

"Yeah?"

"I meant we could go out on our date?"

Ninten turns away from his locker to blink at Claus in surprise, but Claus just raises one eyebrow in a silent request for his response. Ninten would mock him for it, but he can see the bravado beneath the gesture. "Did you have something in mind?"

Claus shrugs. "I just thought we could go to that cafe between here and home."

Ninten could say that they've been there a thousand times, with Lucas and Ness, or just the two of them as friends, but he thinks Claus wants to start there for the familiarity of the place, and Ninten yearns just a little bit for the comfort it'll give him too.

"As long as you buy me carrot cake," Ninten says, and then flutters his eyelashes at Claus. Claus puts a hand on his face and pushes him away, while Ninten laughs into his palm.

Claus turns and walks away, and Ninten grabs his bag, closing his locker and trotting after the red head.

Claus drives them there, grousing about the way Ninten won't leave the radio alone the whole way there and that he has terrible taste in music, and Ninten finds a station that makes Claus screw his face up and then turns it up as high as he can. Claus looks relieved at the silence when they pull into a parking spot and finally shut the car off.

They go inside, and Claus pushes Ninten towards the table they usually get that's one over from the corner and pushed against the window. They don't come here a lot, not enough to have regular orders or to be recognized by the baristas, but they've been here enough that the whole place brings a sense of calm over Ninten, washing up memories of days where Claus would read over sun-dappled pages or Ninten would plug into music and watch the rain carve pathways down the window.

He sits down, and Claus comes over, having gotten a carrot cake for Ninten despite knowing that he was joking, and then places two cups on the table and pushes one over to Ninten.

Ninten takes his and sips, savouring the taste of his hot chocolate. He might be more upset that Claus didn't let him have coffee if he wasn't in love with hot chocolate already. They just needed to make an oreo drink, really, was that so hard?

Before Claus sits down he drags his chair closer to Ninten, and then when he drops into it he moves his one leg out, pressing his knee to Ninten's thigh, and it's so achingly familiar it makes Ninten's throat close.

"So, did you get your chemistry test back?" Claus asks, then sips his coffee. "I know you were worried about it."

It's such a normal question, but of course, that's what people do on dates, isn't it? Talk to each other, learn each other in a different way. Ninten responds to the question, and they go back and forth for a while, falling into an easy rhythm of conversation, and before he knows it Ninten's grinning again.

He'd been afraid for so long before they started. He'd pretended that what he felt for Claus wasn't real, strange passing thoughts with no feeling behind them. He was too afraid to lose his friend, and after he found out Claus felt the same, he settled a little, but there's always been that underlying and thrumming fear, and he thinks he can feel it start to fade now.

Ninten can tell when Claus is starting to drift. Claus has never been as much of a conversationalist as Ninten, can listen for longer than he can speak but has a limit on even that. He's fading and starting to lose the energy to truly focus on their conversation, and Ninten can see it.

"Are you going to read?" Ninten says, and Claus frowns so deeply that Ninten feels he has to elaborate slightly. "You usually read when we're here, and you always have a book on you."

Claus drums his fingers on the table a couple times, composing his response. "It's okay. We're on a date now, I shouldn't read. I can listen to you instead."

Ninten raises both eyebrows, trying to ignore the way his heart seems to flop over like a whale. "You're done your coffee; I finished my hot chocolate and carrot cake. We can go back and you can read if you want."

Claus looks suddenly apprehensive, and Ninten can feel him tense before he pulls his knee away. Ninten had forgotten it was there; his leg feels suddenly cold from the absence of heat pressed there.

"Claus," Ninten says, gently, and Claus brings his eyes back onto Ninten's face. "It's only our first date. If you're done for today, then you're done, and we'll go out again on another date another day, okay?"

"Yeah," Claus says, a little hoarse, and Ninten can't tell if it's because he's still upset from Ninten's words or if it's from the thought of continuing dates.

They pile into the car, and the drive back is uncharacteristically silent. Ninten feels the worry over losing Claus as his friend tighten through him again, and he glances at Claus. He wonders if it would be easier to end things and stay friends, save things as they are, but just the thought of it makes his heart clench so hard he knows he can't do it.

Claus is focusing out the windshield, but Ninten can see his agitation in the way his fingers occasionally drum the wheel and the way his shoulders are tight. Ninten studies him, looking over the simple sweep of his hair, the curve of his cheeks, the fan of his eyelashes.

He's reminded of the way his heart wrenches and his throat closed at the thought of Claus' acting as his boyfriend, and the low throb of jealousy beneath his skin when he saw Ness and Lucas behaving with so much more ease then either of them.

He wants Claus, wants to feel closer to him, hopes for a way to get the same familiarity they've had through friendship, but in a romantic sense as his boyfriend. He wants to know the feel of Claus' lips on him or his fingers in Claus' hair or Claus' hands on his waist, the same way he knows what it's like to press their knees together under tables or sling arms around each other or lie tucked together on couches and beds.

Nervousness hits Ninten suddenly, and he waits for when they pull up to his house, reserves himself to kiss his boyfriend goodbye. He alternates his focus between where they are and Claus himself, unable to keep away from one subject for too long.

When they pull up in front of his house, Ninten takes a steadying breath. He lays his hand on the centre console, lets his body begin to lean-

"Get out," Claus says.

Ninten jumps. He's startled by the words and feels dumb for it; he knows Claus well enough by now to know how he says goodbye. "C'mon, sweetheart, don't I get a better send off? You're not going to miss me through alllll of the night and have to wait to see me until next morning?" He puts on a fake croon.

"Good, I'll be rid of you. Now get out," Claus says, rolling his eyes at Ninten's antics, and that's... good, he supposes. Claus isn't upset anymore.

"See you tomorrow," Ninten says, slipping out of the car. Claus waits until he's inside the house before he drives away, and Ninten moves to the window and watches his car make its way up the road until it disappears.

* * *

After their math test is over, and Ninten completely bombs it, he and Claus engage in the ritual few days of pity tutoring, before Ninten completely loses his motivation.

He's working surprisingly well, at the height of his focus and drive, and so Ness and Lucas choose that exact moment to come into the kitchen where he and Claus are studying.

"Claus!" Lucas immediately says, because it's obviously too much to hope for a few moments of peace and silence at the one point he actually wants it.

"Yeah?" Claus says, turning towards his brother. Despite only being able to see the back of Claus' head from where he's seated, he knows he has one eyebrow raised.

"We need your help with something," Lucas says, moving into the kitchen.

"No," Claus says simply.

Lucas' face screws up. "Claus-"

"What is it?" Claus says.

"I'm going to go upstairs," Ness calls into the room, and Lucas raises a hand in acknowledgement but doesn't look back at him.

"Can you help us get Jeff and Tony together?" Lucas asks.

Claus stares at him for a few long moments, before he throws his head back and laughs.

Lucas hits him in the stomach. "Claus! You're the one who _said_ they were incredibly interested in each other."

"I said they were gay as all hell."

"You know what I mean," Lucas says, a little tiredly.

"Hmmmmmm," Claus hums contemplatively.

"C'mon, Claus, help us get them together." Lucas pleads.

"Why would you think I would be any good at it?"

"You got us together,"

"Literally all I did was shove you at him, tell you to ask him out and then call you names until you did it. I don't see why you'd need me to do it, especially since I don't care about either of them. Do it yourself."

"I can't do that!" Lucas cries.

Claus, instead of looking offended, just squints at Lucas. "I really don't understand how I'm related to you. You'd think as twins that either side of the nature-nurture debate would have made us more similar."

"Obviously your mother made a demon deal to sacrifice one of her children's souls, and she choose to give up yours," Ninten chirps, and Claus turns his narrowed eyes on him.

"Look," Lucas interrupts. "Just help?"

Claus rolls his eyes and leans back on his stool with a sigh. "Get them to go to Prom, either separately or as friends, and I'll see what I can do."

Lucas smiles broadly at his brother, and then bounces around the counter to hug Claus. The older twin grumbles and grimaces, but returns it, giving his brother a sour look when he pulls away.

"Thank you," Lucas says, practically twinkling with his excitement. He is a twink though, so Ninten guesses that it's fitting. "We can definitely do that. I'll leave you two alone then." He bounces out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Ninten scoots his stool over to lay his head on Claus' shoulder. "You really are a softie for him, aren't you?"

"Shut up," Claus grumbles.

"You realise he just went up the stairs to be alone in his bedroom with Ness though, don't you?" Ninten asks, a bit of restrained amusement in his voice. Claus stiffens instantly, and Ninten has to turn sharply and hide his face in Claus' shoulder to keep from laughing out loud.

"You are the worst." Claus declares, rolling his shoulder to dislodge Ninten. He thinks he should be disgruntled or put off by that, but as he pulls away, he's only laughing.

"You flatter me, darling," He says, and Claus cuffs him over the back of his head.

Ninten hangs around with Claus for a while longer, studying to the point that he stops making sense of what each number is a symbol for. He tries not to laugh at the narrowed eye look that Claus gives Ness when he leaves with Ninten, but he doesn't quite succeed.

* * *

They go on their second date a few days later, though "going" would be an exaggeration, because Ninten manages to wheedle Claus into the exact date that Claus had described to him in exasperation.

"Captain America," Ninten argues with his hands on his hips, standing in front of where Claus is on the couch.

Claus snorts, not even deigning to life his head from where it's tipped back against the couch back. "No, you chose the fact that we're watching a Marvel superhero movie, so I get to pick which one. We're doing X-men."

"Nooooooo," Ninten whines, but Claus doesn't seem to care. "C'mon, it's my turn for the date idea."

"I'm pretty sure relationships are about compromise," Claus says, finally lifting his head.

Ninten gives in then, and settles down for the first of the X-men movies next to Claus, and he tells himself that it's because he's being reasonable and not because of the way Claus' eyes had locked on him and sent that wavering pulse through him that it always does.

They sit for a while, the same way they always have, tucked up against each other with a shared popcorn bowl. (Ninten had convinced Claus to let him put in the crushed oreos, and Claus looked disgusted, but really it was _his_ idea in the first place. Claus is leaving the oreos alone and maybe Ninten would be more offended if that didn't end up meaning that Ninten could have them.) Claus starts picking apart the unlikeliness of the fight scenes and the science of the special effects, and Ninten starts hitting him. Although Ninten supposes it's even from the way that Claus starts hitting him when he starts quoting the more memorable scenes.

They're nearly at the end, Claus facing the TV and Ninten facing him with their legs woven together like basket straits, when Ninten looks at Claus' face a little more closely, lit from the light of the TV in the dark room. The angles of his face look sharper, dips of skin and shadow, and Ninten feels suddenly tight over the idea that part of that is _his_.

Ninten shifts over, pressing his side up against Claus, and Claus looks over at him, a little curious. "Hey," he says, voice a low murmur despite that they're the only ones in the room.

"Hey," Ninten breathes, and then, looking at Claus' face just slightly above his own, and the openness in his expression, knows that he wants Claus and that he wants to take something from that. He drops his head onto his shoulder, and then rolls his face towards Claus', somewhat inelegant but comfortable and easy and with some familiarity, and then lets his lips part, moves towards Claus -

Claus pulls his head back, wrinkling his nose. "Your breath smells like oreos."

Ninten sticks his tongue out and puts his face up to Claus'. "_Yummy_,"

Claus puts a hand out and shoves Ninten away by the forehead.

Ninten sits up, snorting, and Claus just rolls his eyes, even though he still lets Ninten worm his way back into his space.

The movie's just ended when Ness and Lucas come back from... well, wherever the hell they've been.

"Hey!" Ninten calls, stretching out with a yawn. His arms hits Claus in the side of the face, and Ninten finds himself pushed over a good foot on the couch.

"Turn on the lights, will you?" Claus says, and Lucas does, Ninten blinking into the brightness.

When he's adjusted, he notices that each of the boys have their dogs, which solves the answer of where they've been. He suspects that when Ness and Lucas move in after being together forever, they'll get a dog to test their gay baby parenting skills, because they are legitimately that gross.

King still looks overly excited despite the walk, and Ninten will forever maintain that he is the exact version of Ness as a dog, even though Ness glared at him for it, especially the one time that Ninten had pointed it out when King had humped Lucas' leg. Boney, on the other hand, has a kind of quiet enthusiasm, his tail thumping against the floor and his tongue lolling out as Lucas unhooks his leash. He comes trotting over to Ninten as soon as he's free, sitting down in front of him and looking eager to be greeted.

"Hey there, Boney," Ninten says fondly, scratching the dog behind the ears. Boney's tail thumps loudly on the floor, and then he lunges up to put his paws on Ninten's lap and licks a long stripe along the side of Ninten's face.

Because of course his boyfriend's fucking dog is more likely to kiss him than his boyfriend is.

"Eugh," He says, pushing Boney back onto the floor and wiping his face with a hand tucked into his sleeve. "Hello to you too, boy."

Claus laughs at him, standing up. "Want me to drive you home again?"

"Nah, my bike's still here. It's early enough that I can take it home." Ninten says. He likes to think that he's being reasonable, since Claus bitches endlessly whenever he has to get Ninten's bike into his car, but he knows that it's mostly because he doesn't want have to deal with trying to kiss him goodbye again and getting kicked out before he can.

"Alright," Claus says, shrugging. His face and posture make it seem like he means it, but Ninten knows better from the way he turns away a little too quickly. Great, he hurt Claus' feelings.

"I'll see you later?" He says, getting up and standing next to Claus.

"Yeah," Claus says, flickering a glance at him. Ninten sort of wants to kiss him on the cheek, like he watched Ness and Lucas do to say goodbye, but he doesn't have enough courage to do it in front of them, so he settles for pulling Claus into a hug instead.

Claus stiffens for a moment, has never been a touchy person, and then he relaxes and hooks one arm around Ninten's lower back. They stay there for a couple seconds, and Ninten breathes in the way Claus smells, before he pulls back. "Bye,"

"Bye," Claus says, and Ninten throws him a cheeky smile before leaving.

Just before he closes the front door behind him, he hears Lucas start to laugh.

* * *

There's only three days left before Prom, and Ninten still hasn't kissed Claus.

He wants to, he _really_ wants to, but it just seems like he can't actually manage to do it. Either the timing's always off, or something gets in the way. Or both, because his life totally fucking sucks, okay.

He's sitting in Claus and Lucas' kitchen, and Claus seems to be able to sense his mood, because he keeps glancing at him from where he's cooking, but he doesn't ask Ninten about it. That's not unusual though, he usually comes to Claus with his problems, so Claus is just waiting him out.

Too bad he's not going to ask for his help on this one.

"Hey, Ninten?" Claus says, and Ninten looks over to him, raises an eyebrow in question. "C'mere a second."

Ninten does, rounding the counter to where Claus is standing in front of the stove, though it's more out of curiosity than any real desire to listen to Claus. "What?" He says when he's close enough.

"_C'mere_," Claus repeats, motioning Ninten even closer, and his face is oddly intent, so Ninten does a little cautiously, his stomach suddenly filling with butterflies.

Maybe this is... Maybe Claus saw the look on his face, and knew what it was from. Maybe he didn't, but maybe this is what Ninten thinks, what it must be, and Claus didn't have any motivation besides wanting Ninten as much as Ninten wants him.

Niten leans in, lips parting -

and abruptly has a spoon shoved into his mouth.

"How does that taste?" Claus says.

Despite his immense surprise, Ninten still manages to swallow the spoonful. "It's good."

"Yeah?" Claus says, studying his face for any source of a lie. "I've tested it enough by this point that I'm not sure, since the tastes might be blending together for me."

"Yeah, it's good." Ninten repeats, rolling his eyes, because of course Claus would ruin the moment with his stupid perfectionist quirks.

He's starting to think his boyfriend is a robot.

"Hmmmm," Claus hums, but he doesn't look satisfied, turning back to the pot.

Ninten is starting to get so irritated, he just decides to completely screw it. Screw romanticism. Screw mood. He wants to kiss his goddamn fucking idiot of a boyfriend, screw the fucking universe.

"Let me taste," He says, and Claus turns towards him slightly, eyes still on his cooking but his body language showing his attentiveness. Ninten steps forward, puts a hand on Claus' shoulder, and stretches up onto his tiptoes to close the small difference in their heights. He lets out a soft breath, moving in, eyes on Claus' despite that Claus isn't looking at him, and then drifts forward to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

Or so he intends, until Lucas walks in.

"Hey, are you making dinner?" Lucas asks, and Ninten steps away suddenly, wanting nothing more than to scream. Lucas' eyes flicker to him at the movement, and they widen, as though he realises, but Ninten brings up two fingers and quickly swipes them back in forth in the air in front of his own throat as a warning to abort his apology.

Lucas looks vastly uncomfortable, having understood that he interrupted when Claus hadn't yet figured out that something was going on. Ninten can feel his face heat a little in embarrassment at the fact that Lucas is now seeing just how completely inept he is at his attempts, but brushes it aside, because if he keeps thinking about it then he'll turn the same colour as his bandana and Claus will notice and start to completely terrorize him over it.

"Yeah, just some chili, but I don't like the way the flavour's coming out yet," Claus says, still frowning down at the pot he hasn't looked up from once during the entire exchange.

Lucas rolls his eyes. "Claus, I'm sure it's totally fine."

Claus lifts his head and fixes a glare on his brother. "Yeah, _fine_, not _good_."

Lucas sits down at the counter, and then drops his head onto it. "We're never going to eat. We're going to starve waiting for him to finish."

Ninten can't help but break into laughter, despite the fact that Claus swivels his glare over to him and narrows his eyes further. He's not really sure why Claus tries, Ninten's too used to it by now for there to be much of an effect, and it has to have even less of one on Lucas.

"_Five minutes_," Claus grumbles, and Ninten slips onto the stool next to Lucas, still brandishing a smug grin.

"So how are things with Ness?" Ninten asks, and Lucas blushes right on cue.

"Can you not?" Claus cuts over them, and Ninten turns towards him.

"What, you don't want to know _anything_ about your brother's relationship? I bet most, if not all of it, is G-rated."

"Yeah, but I still bet all their dates are grossly adorable. I bet Lucas inwardly flails every time Ness takes his hand or walks him home." Claus says, stirring the chili and taking another sample.

"I do not!" Lucas cries, but judging from the pink creeping into his face, Ninten doubts that he's being truthful.

"Whatever, I'm done," Claus says, clanking around as he takes three bowls from the cupboard and scoops their dinners out.

Ninten takes his happily, and Claus tells him to eat more neatly because he shovels it in like a rabid wolf. Ninten bares his teeth at him for that.

Lucas sulks into his bowl the whole time, until right before he finishes and disappears upstairs just before Ninten leaves.

"Got a tux for Saturday?" Ninten asks, putting his shoes on in the entryway.

Claus folds his arms together where he's leaning against the doorway. "Yes, I did. Did you?"

"Yes," Ninten replies, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Wouldn't forget about that."

"Dress shoes? Tie? Something to do with your hair besides that fucking cap?"

"_Yes_," Ninten says, standing up. "And don't diss the cap, or I might just wear it to spite you."

"I'd abandon you in there,"

It's an empty threat, and they both know it.

"See you," Ninten says, stepping up and opening his arms for a hug. He wants to try for a kiss on the cheek with it, but he's so used to the way fate is going at this point that he's hardly surprised when Claus moves into his arms and immediately cups a hand behind Ninten's head to push it into his shoulder.

"Bye," Claus murmurs, using that smoothly deep voice that Ninten has fallen asleep to him reading aloud with. He allows himself just another moment before he steps back, smiling.

"Later," He gets out, just before he ducks through the door.

* * *

Three days later, and it's suddenly the night of Prom. Ninten feels like his insides are thrumming with nerves and his palms are sweating the whole time.

He and Claus come separately, agreeing to meet there, and Ninten catches a ride in with Ness. Or, that may be an exaggeration, because Ness ends up having such a dumb breakdown over what he looks like and what _Lucas_ will think and if he can dance well enough for _Lucas_ and that he's going to prom with _Lucas_ as his date. So, Ninten drives them in, using Ness' car.

They get into the school gym, decorated in a surprisingly charming way and smelling less like feet than Ninten had expected. He wants to get punch, but instead he has drag Ness over to the side of the room and try to futilely calm him down. He's seriously crossing his fingers for the twins to come soon, and for once he isn't lying to himself when he wants it more to fix the situation than just to see Claus and have his own date there. He wants that too, but seriously Ness, Lucas had asked _him_ to Prom, Ninten was pretty damn sure he _wanted_ to go.

Thankfully, Lucas slips in when Ninten isn't looking, and comes up to Ness' side. He draws in all of Ness' attention with a charmingly shy grin, and Ness starts acting like Ninten has completely ceased to exist in the face of Lucas' presence, because Ninten is the most underappreciated best friend ever.

"Hey," he hears from behind him, and Ninten spins around, ready to greet Claus with a grin and a cheeky compliment, but the smile slips right off as soon as he sees his boyfriend, because apparently the baseline attractive level of casual Claus has done nothing to prepare him for the sky high level of formal wear Claus.

He stares at Claus and pretends that he isn't imagining what he would look like with his shirt unbuttoned and pushed off of his shoulders along with his suit jacket, or what he would look like with his carefully styled hair disheveled from Ninten running his fingers through it. He tries not to think about it, because if he does he might say one of those things out loud, and then Claus will never go anywhere with him in public again.

"Hi," he says weakly, and hopes he doesn't sound stupid, because Claus is already going to be bitchy about having to dance, and he doesn't need to give him anything else to ridicule him over.

A smile twitches at the corner of Claus' mouth, but he doesn't say anything, just steps up beside Ninten to watch as his brother and Ness make awkward, stuttering compliments, despite the fact that they've been dating for nearly a month.

"You actually didn't wear the hat," Claus says, and yeah, his boyfriend is attractive, but he's still an _ass_.

"Anything for you, baby," Ninten lilts, and instead of snorting or rolling his eyes, Claus smiles, wider than Ninten thinks he's seen in a while.

"C'mon," Claus says, slipping an arm around Ninten's lower back and starting to steer him. "Let's get some punch,"

And okay, he can go for that.

The punch is good, but Claus obviously doesn't seem to think so. He scrunches his face up when he tastes it, and then when Ninten's taken a few drinks from his own, Claus dumps the rest of his cup into Ninten's and then tosses it.

Ninten stares directly into his eyes and drains the whole thing. Claus' face scrunches up again.

"You're gross," Claus says, and Ninten licks his own palm and then presses it to Claus' cheek before he can react. Claus draws back sharply, and then hits Ninten in the stomach, which doesn't help with his air intake from the way he's already laughing.

"You're pushing it," Claus grumbles, and Ninten smiles and takes his hand, leading him over to the table that Lucas and Ness are already sitting at with two other boys. They look a little familiar, and it takes Ninten a moment to place them as Jeff and Tony.

He's a little unsure of trying to set them up, being the least familiar with them, until he and Claus come up to the table and both of their eyes lock on their joined hands with strange expressions on their faces.

Ninten doesn't think he's ever had such a quick gaydar reading.

"Hey, Jeff and Tony, right?" Ninten says cheerfully, and pulls Claus to sit beside him at the table. Claus doesn't seem to think Ninten is being very subtle either, but Ninten doesn't think that he's really one to judge, based on the way he has to turn away from the boys and face Ninten to keep from laughing.

"Yeah," The redhead says. "I'm Tony, and this is Jeff!" He's very smiley, and he seems nice, although Ninten doesn't really get the hat.

"Nice to meet you, officially," The blond, Jeff says. He's cute too, and Ninten isn't really into his haircut, glasses, or the smattering of freckles, but he's got that quietly serious air and blue eyes that are a little charming. But Ninten supposes he might be projecting a bit, with that analysis.

"Officially?" Ninten asks, with a raised eyebrow.

"We hear about you from Ness, on occasion." Jeff elaborates, and Ninten is mostly flattered, but still mildly disappointed that he doesn't have a school-wide reputation or something.

"Right," Ninten says. "I hear about you two a little too."

"Yeah? Good to know," Jeff says.

"Are you two here together?" Tony asks, and gestures between Ninten and Claus. Jeff flushes, and Ninten has to admit that it is a little bit charming over his freckles and glasses.

"Yeah, we're actually dating." Claus replies, laying his arm over Ninten's shoulder. Ninten feels like the room gets a couple degrees warmer, but in a comfortable way, like stepping into a warm room after a brisk day outside.

"Are you two each other's dates too?" Ninten asks, and this time both boys blush. He has to put all of his effort into not breaking into a devilish grin. Claus turns, putting his face against Ninten's neck in what could be interpreted as an affectionate gesture, if he couldn't feel the grin he's hiding there.

"No," Tony replies. "We're just friends."

"That's too bad; you'd look cute together." Ninten says. Ness kicks him under the table, but Claus' shoulders are shaking with restrained laughter, so he isn't feeling particularly remorseful.

The music switches tracks, and Ness leaps up. "C'mon Ninten, I know you like this song!" He says, and hauls Ninten onto the dance floor so he can't do as much damage.

Ninten starts to laugh as soon as he and Ness are in the crowd, where he won't be heard over the music.

The two of them dance along for a while, acting like complete idiots the same way they do when dancing alone in each other's houses, until Lucas comes into save them by dancing with them and toning things down so everyone else stops throwing them looks. Jeff and Tony join them for a couple, everyone rotating in and out for drinks and breaks.

Ninten manages to wheedle Claus into three different group dances, which was two more than he was expecting, so he's already extremely pleased with the night. He feels a little light-headed and out of breath, and that might be from exertion, but it might also just be his mood.

"So," Ninten says when it's just him and Claus sitting alone at the table, watching the others dance, "What's your plan with Jeff and Tony?"

Claus takes a sip of punch. "Give me a second, and you'll see," He says, and then puts his cup on the table and stands. Ninten raises an eyebrow at him, but Claus ignores him.

To Ninten's surprise, Claus moves around the crowd on the dance floor instead of into it and towards the two boys. He loops over to the DJ booth, and then leans over to speak to the man there, who slips off one side of his headphones to listen. He nods, and then Claus walks back over to the table.

"What was that?" Ninten asks, but his boyfriend doesn't say anything, just smiles a little bit and pulls Ninten to his feet, like that's some sort of answer in itself.

The DJ comes over the speakers then, "Alright guys! Here I got an interesting request, and I thought it was cool enough to give it a try. I want everyone out on the dance floor in a school-wide slow dance. Make a romantic one with your date, a funny one with a friend, or a friendly one with a stranger. Let's see everybody out there, people!"

He cues a slow song, and a lot of the students are starting to file out onto the floor. Ninten stares at Claus, a smile breaking out over both of their faces, though Ninten's is inching much closer to a grin.

"You're a genius," Ninten says, and Claus' smile turns smug, but he just tugs Ninten out onto the floor instead of saying anything.

Ninten wraps his arms around Claus' neck, and can feel Claus place his hands on his waist. They sway a little, neither particularly good dancers, but not uncomfortable with it.

"Can you seem them?" Ninten murmurs, looking up at Claus. Claus glances over Ninten's head from where he's slightly taller, and then turns them slightly. Ninten can tell when he spots them form the supremely satisfied look on his face.

"Do they look cuddly or friendly?" Ninten asks, voice low.

"They look like they could easily end up making out in the back of whatever car they came in by the end of the night," Claus says in the same tone, then brings his eyes back to Ninten in time to see him start to laugh.

Ninten feels a little dizzy, but he doesn't want to let go of Claus and sit down. He doesn't want to let go of this moment.

"You could make a living out of matchmaking," Ninten says, and Claus snorts, laying his head on Ninten's shoulder. Ninten turns his head, leaning it just below Claus' shoulder instead, since he's a little shorter.

"I'd much rather have things go back to normal."

"Normal?" Ninten whispers.

"Maybe not quite," Claus says, and Ninten can feel the breath on his ear and the smile in his boyfriend's voice.

Ninten doesn't even try to pretend he's not disappointed when the song is over, and Claus laughs at him. They go back to the table, meeting Lucas and Ness at the same time, and Ness somehow manages to convince him to do a lap of the room with him to the high energy dance music while almost everyone is taking a break or wandering out.

As they're sprinting around the floor, Ness completely outpacing him as Ninten wheezes behind him, he notices Tony and Jeff slow dancing in the midst of the few other dancers. He can't help smiling.

Getting back to the table, Ness is grinning, but Ninten doesn't really care that he won, flopping down into a chair and leaning over his knees.

"I told you it was a bad idea," Claus says, offering him a cup of punch, but Ninten waves him off, trying to find enough air to breathe first.

Ness and Lucas go back onto the dance floor, and they ask if Claus wants to come, but Claus maintains that he's going to wait with Ninten. Ninten glances at him out of the corner of his eye, trying to spot the lie on his face, but all he sees is genuine concern.

"You okay?" Claus asks him after a minute. Ninten nods, smiling weakly at him, despite the fact that he doesn't really feel it.

Claus looks even less relieved than before. "Your face is getting pale," He says, and Ninten wants to argue, but then he starts to cough.

"Shit," Claus says, standing abruptly. He looks torn as to what to do for a moment, and Ninten can feel his panic rising, and there's beginning to feel like there's a pressure around his throat, like someone has their hand around his throat and is slowly tightening. It's just ghost of a touch right now, but it's familiar enough that Ninten knows what's coming.

"Stay here," Claus says, like Ninten was going to fucking _go_ anywhere, and darts into the crowd.

Ninten immediately gets swallowed in panic at being abandoned, but there's not much he can do, unable to talk from lack of breath and the constant coughs pushing from his throat.

Claus breaks out of the crowd suddenly, and Ness and Lucas are trailing behind him. Ness starts walking faster as soon as he sees Ninten, on the verge of a run really, and then stops to kneel in front of Ninten.

"Inhaler?" He asks, and Ninten shakes his head violently through his coughing, trying portray that he doesn't have it. He hasn't needed it in so long, his asthma had gotten better as he got older, and he always kept one at home, in his backpack, and on his bike just in case, but now he's here at Prom without needing a backpack and having caught a ride, and he's totally stranded.

"Shit," Ness swears, mirroring Claus' earlier words, and Ninten might laugh if he had any air, but even as it is there is legitimately nothing funny about the moment. "I'm calling 911." Ness says, and stands to dig into his pocket. Claus drops to occupy Ness' spot in front of Ninten as he does.

"What do we do until they get here?" Claus asks him, sounding a little panicked, and Ninten doesn't think he's ever seen him look so pale.

"Just- just stay with him. Calm him down." He says, and then ducks out of the room so he can find somewhere quieter to call from. Ninten thought Lucas would follow his boyfriend, but instead he grabs a chair and drags it over, setting it right next to Ninten's.

"You'll be fine," Lucas says, which is vastly unreassuring, considering most of his bodily functions are screaming at him that he's going to die.

"The ambulance will be here soon," Claus says, which is a little better.

Ninten nods, still coughing, and wipes his sweaty hair out of his eyes. It falls right back where it was, but Ninten just leaves it this time.

Claus leans forward, and brushes Ninten's hair back with one hand, a little tenderly. "Help will be here right away," he says, and the way he says it is soft, but the look in his eyes makes Ninten think that he's daring the universe to make him wrong.

Ninten manages to mostly control his panic until the paramedics arrive, which is about the best he can do. He can't stop wheezing, he can't stop coughing, and each movement in and out of his lungs sounds like it's scraping along dry wood.

Ness follows them in, hanging around awkwardly, and Lucas and Claus back up too, although Claus looks largely reluctant to do so. The party around them stalls, and a teacher comes over to check up on them, and Ness goes up to him to explain.

Ninten's taken up into the ambulance, and one of the paramedics gives him an oxygen mask and instructs him to take longer, deeper breaths instead of shallow ones, and Ninten does his best to follow along. She asks him if he wants to hop up onto the gurney or sit, and Ninten hops up with her help, wanting desperately to lie down.

Outside the ambulance's open doors, he hears voices, but he doesn't think much of it until Claus is climbing into the ambulance and sitting beside where Ninten's laid out. The paramedic raises an eyebrow, but Claus looks too exhausted to return with a challenging look. "He's my boyfriend."

"Do you want him here?" She asks Ninten, and Ninten nods. She nods decisively back, and that's that.

The ambulance starts to move, the sirens turning on, and it's a little surreal and but also makes Ninten start to panic a bit more because he's going to the fucking _hospital_, he's having another attack, he thought he was done and he doesn't have an inhaler and he can't breathe he can't _breathe_.

He jumps when Claus catches the hand that's not holding the oxygen mask to his face, then cupping it with both of his own. He stares at their hands, not saying anything. He's silent for so long that Ninten can feel his chest constricting, but that could be the asthma. He doesn't care much, and despite knowing he shouldn't, lifts the mask off to speak.

"I'm sorry," he gasps out, "I thought- I thought it might coming, but I didn't want- want to make a big deal at Prom if it wasn't, and -"

"Forget the fucking Prom," Claus says, and Ninten thinks that if he wasn't already completely unable to get in any air then his breath would catch at the strain in Claus' voice. Claus takes a deep breath, and lays his head down on the gurney, over where he's grasping Ninten's hand between both of his own. "God, Ninten, I don't care, I just want you to be okay."

The paramedic comes over and grumpily pushes the oxygen mask back down over Ninten's mouth, so the two of them don't say anything for the rest of the ride. They don't really have to; Claus is communicating enough to keep Ninten stable, with brushes of his thumb over Ninten's palm, brushes of his hair back, and a kiss to the back of his hand.

* * *

His stay in the hospital isn't that long, really, especially compared to some other times. It's never fun, but this one isn't so bad, he had to get the regular IV, but the steroids they pumped through it combined with the oxygen mask had worked efficiently this time, so they've cleared him to go home soon, as long as he takes a dose of oral steroids for a little while yet.

His mother's extremely relieved, and although she flutters over him a little, she's mostly okay.

She lets Ninten just disappear up to his room when they get back, and for that he's grateful.

He picks up his phone as soon as he's there, and dials as soon as it's turned on.

"Hey," Claus says when he picks up, and Ninten shivers at the sound of his voice. It's one of those things he remembers a little bit off from reality until he finds it again, and then it's as familiar as the smell of his mom's shampoo and the feel of his own pillow. The sound of him makes Ninten ache in all the right ways, his voice just as deep and soothing as Ninten remembers.

"I'm okay," Ninten says. He can hear Claus just breathe for a few seconds, as though he's listening to Ninten do the same on the other line.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah,"

* * *

Claus is a little overprotective for a few days, and every day when he gets to school he checks that Ninten has his inhaler despite that Ninten glares at him for it. He only stops when Ness and Lucas start telling him it's stupid too, though Ninten sometimes catches him checking the pocket where the inhaler's kept when Claus thinks he isn't looking.

"C'mon, Clausy, it's my turn to pick the date," He whines, and Ness looks vastly amused from where he's watching them across the cafeteria table. Lucas looks like he's trying to quietly discourage him from it, but he's largely failing.

"You picked a movie _last_ time. Can't you come up with something else?" Claus argues back.

"I thought it was what I wanted to do? And I want to watch a movie again."

"Fucking hell," Claus swears, looking up at the ceiling, as though pleading to the heavens as to how he got himself into this. Ninten doesn't get why he would say hell and them immediately appeal to the other direction.

"What? I went to your dumb art showing last time -"

"It was not _dumb_ -"

"There was like, squiggles and splatters, and I'm pretty sure our _dogs_ could have painted that stuff -"

"It's _abstract_ -"

"Jesus Christ," Ness cuts in. "You two really never got over the sexual tension, did you?"

Ninten and Claus flip the bird at him in unison, and Lucas looks a little startled. He reaches across the table to push their hands down.

"Don't do that, the lunchroom is supervised," Lucas says.

Claus opens his mouth and then makes a fist in front of it, jiggling it back and forth. Lucas turns a deep shade of red and starts batting at his brother's hands, but Claus only leans back out of range.

"Claus!" Lucas hisses, and Ninten takes pity on him and grabs Claus' hands. Claus doesn't seem to care much, only smirking at his brother, who's glaring at him now that the situation's been aborted. It isn't very effective, considering the way most of his face is still flushed.

"C'mon, let's get ready for class," Ninten says, despite that they have plenty of time. Claus follows him, but he starts chuckling when they're dumping their trays. Ninten tries to keep his face straight, but the corner of his mouth twitches up, and then Claus starts to laugh. "You're the worst brother."

"Hopefully not the worst boyfriend?"

"Up for debate," Ninten says, sticking his tongue out as they make their way back to their lockers. They collect each of their books together, and then Claus walks Ninten to his class.

"See you," Claus says.

Ninten opens his mouth to reply, but then closes it, studying Claus' face. He can see the soft fall of his hair over his forehead, and the line of neck as it broadens out into his shoulders, and remembers what he had wanted for so long.

So he reaches up and kisses Claus on the corner of his mouth.

When he rocks back playfully, a little surprised at how soft Claus' mouth had felt even despite the quick brush, he can see the startled expression on Claus' face.

"Later," He sings, and then darts into his classroom.

* * *

It's about another month before they're comfortable enough to have moved on to making out.

Ninten thinks he's a little addicted to it, the feeling of Claus' weight pressing down over him, the feeling of ghosting his fingertips up the back of Claus' shirt to feel the muscles of his back or having Claus do the same, the way Claus looks when they pull away and his mouth is red and wet.

"You taste like oreos," Claus says once, pulling away after they've been kissing slow and warm for what must be over an hour.

"And that's a complaint why?" Ninten says, not pulling back to speak the words, still brushing his lips over Claus'.

"I'm starting to get sick of them because of you," he says, pushing at Ninten's stomach until he finally sits up, looking at Claus lying below him.

"You can _never_ get sick of oreos," Ninten argues.

"_You_ can't," Claus replies, and Ninten grins because, well, true.

He shifts a little, legs sore from supporting himself. (Claus is better at it; he's more athletic, though that might be because his lungs don't commit mutiny whenever he plays a sport.) He moves himself back, settling himself a little better over Claus thighs and lap -

And feels something stiff pressing into the back of his thighs.

He can't help it - he starts to laugh.

"Wow, mature," Claus says, a little snippy, though from the slight touch of pink to his cheeks, it's more likely to be from embarrassment. "Like you've never had one too,"

"Can't say it?" Ninten asks, grinning, and Claus glares. "Is that a flashlight in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

Claus twists, pulling himself back against the wall as he pushes Ninten off so that they land side by side on the bed. If he was trying to get Ninten to stop, it wasn't effective, since Ninten's laughing again.

"Christ," Claus says, bringing his hands up to cover his face.

Ninten keeps laughing, and wiggles over to press his body up to Claus' slotting a thigh between both of his boyfriend's.

He can tell when Claus feels him, because he stiffens and then drops his hands, glaring at Ninten. "Why would you mock me for that, you fucking hypocrite?"

Ninten kisses him lightly on the lips. "Because I'm a horrible person."

Claus looks like he wants to say something to agree with that, and Ninten thinks he probably isn't going to like it, so he swallows the words with his own mouth.

* * *

**A/N: I researched asthma attacks, symptoms, and treatments before I wrote this fic, but as it is, I don't know if it was very heavy research, and likely doesn't compare to what real life experience would bring. So, if you have asthma or know someone who does and spot an inaccuracy, please don't feel shy about letting us know! It would be appreciated. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!**


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